Menino's time to shine
At Christmas, follow the tree-lighting ceremonies to find the mayor
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A trio of dancing trees had already entertained the crowd at the West Roxbury community center when the jolly man himself came sauntering down Centre Street and flicked the switch that would illuminate the neighborhood Christmas tree.
No, not Father Christmas, but Mayor Christmas. Thomas M. Menino is on his annual two-week tree-lighting binge in which he appears to be making his office, indeed, his very presence, synonymous with holiday spirit.
The West Roxbury visit was one of five neighborhood tree lightings over which Menino presided that Friday evening, part of a dizzying schedule of nearly three-dozen tree lightings around the city that began Nov. 29 and continues unabated through Sunday.
Boston mayors traditionally have lighted a holiday tree or two to kick off the season in the city, but Menino has taken the role to an unparalleled extreme. This weekend alone, he is on tap to light 16 trees, mostly part of a marathon trolley tour that shoots out around the city from City Hall.
Fraser firs, blue spruces, Scotch pines - Menino knows them all.
Mary Hines of the city's Parks and Recreation Department relayed a City Hall joke about the proliferation of mayoral tree lightings: "Don't stand still, or you'll get a bunch of lights pulled over you with a battery pack attached to it."
Critics may say that the mayor of a city the size of Boston should have better ways to spend his valuable time. But Menino said he must pay close attention to community events in every neighborhood, block by block, street by street. It has helped him build a reputation as a small-town mayor in a big city.
"You can't get stuck at City Hall," he said. "If I'm not doing Christmas tree lightings, I'm doing basketball games at gyms or doing a hockey game. I like to get out to the neighborhoods and get a sense of the people."
Besides, he said, "it's Friday night. What else you gonna do on Friday night?"
His poll numbers suggest that showing up for tree lightings, school openings, ribbon cuttings, award ceremonies, and store openings is part of the popularity he has built during 15 years in office. Fifty-four percent of respondents in a Globe poll in April said they have personally met the mayor, who had a job-approval rating above 70 percent.
So it turns out that lighting trees is good politics, as his grumbling rivals will attest.
Residents in West Roxbury said they thought highly of the mayor for trekking out to light up their tree.
"I think it speaks loudly about the person, about Tom, that he does this," said West Roxbury resident John Filleti, who bundled his 5-year-old daughter, Grace, off to the local community center to see the tree-lighting ceremony on Friday night.
The mayor started what has become the Macy's Enchanted Trolley Tour, a traveling road show of holiday lightings, in the mid-1990s because he wanted to replicate the excitement of the annual Boston Common tree-lighting in neighborhoods across the city. Now, in addition to the three-day trolley tour, Menino's staff coordinates a schedule packed with other events.
The heavy schedule appears to take a bit of a toll on the 65-year-old chief executive. His role in these events is sandwiched in a Christmas medley by Star, Sparkle, and Shine, performers dressed in Christmas tree outfits. After thanking the crowd for coming out, Menino acknowledges the city councilors present. Then he looks around and says, "All these people are here, but somebody's missing. Who's missing?" Then out comes Santa, who stands by as the mayor pulls a lever, prompting workers to shoot confetti from tubes atop the truck while lights on the neighborhood's tree pop on.
By the fourth stop Friday night in Dorchester's Codman Square, Menino's voice was scratchy, and he ran through his well-practiced Santa shtick with a little less gusto.
Menino has not declared whether he intends to seek reelection next year to what would be an unprecedented fifth term. At least two city councilors are weighing whether to run against him, including Michael Flaherty, one of several councilors who rode on the trolley tour Friday. Other area politicians are waiting to see if he will decide to step down.
Menino's yuletide hopscotching is apparently rare, according to the results of an informal survey. Generally, big-city mayors reserve their presence for the city's marquee event, if they take the time at all.
A spokeswoman for Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City said the only standing tree-lighting appointment on his calendar is at Rockefeller Center. "He also sometimes goes to other similar citywide events, but those are fluid from year to year," said spokeswoman Dawn S. Walker.
In Atlanta, Mayor Shirley Franklin's office could not point to one tree-lighting event she is headlining this year.
"Mayor Franklin doesn't have any Christmas tree lightings, so when you said 30, I was like, 'Whoa,' " said spokeswoman Catherine Woodling.
Neighborhood tree lightings are a tradition for Boston families who don't want to crowd onto Boston Common to get into the holiday spirit. And the sight of Menino heralding the occasion lends a ceremonial weight to the events, which some local merchants and restaurants count on to gin up holiday sales.
"Boston is very much an old-fashioned city when it comes to politics," said John A. Nucci, a former city councilor and now a vice president of Suffolk University. "They want to see and touch their elected officials. I live in the city, and sometimes I swear there are three Tom Meninos."
Trish Kelleher of Hyde Park said she was impressed to see the mayor, even though his presence was not the reason she and her husband, Tom, brought their 2-year-old daughter Shaelyn and 4-year-old son Jack to Wolcott Square for the tree lighting.
"I think they're more excited to see Santa and the tree, but I thought it was pretty impressive that the mayor came out," she said.
John C. Drake can be reached at jdrake@globe.com.
